What is true happiness

Here is a post from one of our yahoo group members that perfectly sums up our confusion and how to turn our mind (180 degrees) towards real and lasting happiness:

Dvayatanupassana Sutta: The Noble One’s Happiness
translated from the Pali by John D. Ireland

“See how the world together with the devas has self-conceit for what is not-self. Enclosed by mind-and-body it imagines, ‘This is real.’ Whatever they imagine it to be, it is quite different from that. It is unreal, of a false nature and perishable. Nibbana[1], not false in nature, that the Noble Ones[2] know as true. Indeed, by the penetration of the true, they are completely stilled and realize final deliverance.

“Forms, sounds, tastes, scents, bodily contacts and ideas which are agreeable, pleasant and charming, all these, while they last, are deemed to be happiness by the world with its devas. But when they cease that is agreed by all to be unsatisfactory. By the Noble Ones, the cessation of the existing body[3] is seen as happiness. This is the reverse of the outlook of the whole world.

“What others call happiness, that the Noble Ones declare to be suffering. What others call suffering, that the Noble Ones have found to be happiness. See how difficult it is to understand the Dhamma! Herein those without insight have completely gone astray. For those under the veil (of ignorance) it is obscured, for those who cannot see it is utter darkness. But for the good and the wise it is as obvious as the light for those who can see. Even though close to it, the witless who do not know the Dhamma, do not comprehend it.

“By those overcome by attachment to existence, those who drift with the stream of existence, those in the realm of Mara, this Dhamma is not properly understood. Who other than the Noble Ones, are fit to fully understand that state, by perfect knowledge of which they realize final deliverance, free from defilements?”[4]

Notes:

1. Nibbana (Pali) or Nirvana (Sanskrit) – freedom from the endless cycle of personal reincarnations.
2. The Noble Ones – Ariya (Pali) or Arya (Sanskrit) are the Buddhas and their disciples who have obtained realization.
3. The “existing body” (sakkaya) – is a term for the five aggregates as objects of grasping.
4. Anusava (or asava) – the defilements.  Literally “out-flows,” which are dissipations of energy in the form of sensual desire, becoming (the perpetuation of existence), views (beliefs), and ignorance.  They are the same as the four “floods” mentioned earlier.  One who has destroyed the defilements (khinasava) is another name for an arahant or Perfected One.

Click here to join our Buddhist Sutras Yahoo Group to read more about the precious dharma.

Light and Love,
Neo

Padmasambhava Project for Peace

Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) is perhaps the most universally cherished saint in all of Tibetan Buddhism.  An accomplished Buddha, Padmasambhava came to Tibet from India in the 8th Century and helped establish a pure lineage which is still practiced today around the world by all four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.  Prayers to Padmasambhava remove obstacles on the path, prevent harm, create peace in the world, and help us accomplish all we wish on the spiritual path.

“Building Guru Rinpoche statues will bring immeasurable benefit, peace, happiness, and freedom to the world.  They will have immeasurable impact.”  –Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Lama Zopa Rinpoche says: “Due to Padmasambhava’s great compassion, Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism flourished in Tibet and now has spread throughout the entire world.  Because of that, so many people have experienced the path to enlightenment and achieved enlightenment.  Due to his great compassion, the lives of infinite number of sentient beings have become meaningful.”

To help create peace and happiness for all beings, Lama Zopa Rinpoche is building 100,000 large statues of Padmasambhava all around the world. Building statues of Padmasambhava is a long tradition in Tibetan Buddhism.

Padmasambhava himself said:

Listen, beautiful one having the form of a goddess,
For those sentient beings who have not met me,
Statues of me in the future
Will become the light eliminating the darkness
of ignorance.

Whoever builds such statues of me,
Which become objects of offering and so forth,
All their future lives will become meaningful
And they will establish the banner of the teachings.

Until now, the funds needed to build these statues have been provided by private sponsors.  Now, we invite you to join Lama Zopa Rinpoche in building these exquisite beacons of peace and freedom in the world.  As Rinpoche says, “Anyone who contributes will create unbelievable merit!”

Click here to become a sponsor:  Padmasambhava Project for Peace